“Face your life, its pain, its pleasure, leave no path untaken.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book
It’s December 31st 2017. I am re-blogging this post from 2013, a very difficult year in my life and I’m sending it out to anyone who has struggled this year.
Life this year has been stamping it’s foot, screaming at the top of it’s lungs–that I should face my life and not look away. Well I have faced my life. I’ve stared it down, and looked directly at jmany harsh truths. I’ve struggled with all my might, mostly against my own self torment. And here is what I have learned.
1. Not to fear my fear.
2. Not to feel bad about feeling bad.
3. Not to be ashamed of my shame.
4. I have everything I need to create change in my life.
5. And sometimes disappointment and grief and loss are our greatest teachers.
So on this last day of the year when people are celebrating, I am going to take a moment to speak to those who are not.
If it has been a tough year for you–and you think you have nothing to celebrate–let me send you a message of hope. You are brave and amazing and resilient and strong, even if you don’t feel that way right now. And if you are looking into the abyss of your own lonely heart, let me tell you that I know what that is like.
Be kind to yourself. Be loving with yourself. Forgive yourself. Let yourself feel whatever you feel.
And if you have a hole inside you-that you can not fill or if you are angryand afraid, if you have a wound that has never healed–a mark that will not go away–remember you are absolutely beautiful, and your torn and tattered heart, only makes you more so.
I like to think of the Japanese idea of Wabi-sabi- and the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.
So Happy Wabi Sabi New Year to you my kindred family.
I have hope for you even if you don’t right now.
Let me hold your hope for a while. It will be here when you need it.
You are going to feel happy and stardust shiny again.
